Best Time for a Driving Test

Have you ever wondered what time is the best time of the day to take your driving test? Although some may say that the best time for a driving test is irrelevant as you should possess the ability to handle any situation, driving test nerves play a significant factor and so choosing an appropriate time for the test is important. The best driving test time is dependent on many factors. Initially consult your driving instructor if you have one. Your driving instructor is likely to have a thorough knowledge of the traffic situation throughout the day and will match this to your driving ability.

Early Driving Test – Early driving test times of 08:10 and 09:07 will see you taking your driving test during rush hour. How much of a rush hour is relative to where you live. Although you may occasionally hear that a test candidate remained stuck in traffic jams throughout the duration of their test, making it easy, is not often the case.

The examiner doesn’t want to be stuck in traffic as this will not fully test your ability at driving and runs the risk of returning to the test center late. During early driving test times, an examiner will choose driving test routes that are less likely to result in traffic queues, making the driving test run smoother and on time.

Early driving test times are more likely to encounter frantic drivers trying to get to work, parents on the school run and a higher percentage of cyclists and pedestrians. Early test times are much more likely to involve traffic queues to some degree however, and so you need to weigh up the odds of the likely hood of the ‘advantage’ being stuck in traffic queues and the disadvantage of competing with high volumes of frantic drivers and cyclists. If however there are some areas within the test routes of your test center that you are not confident on such as busy multi-lane roundabouts, these maybe disregarded during early morning rush hour tests to avoid delays.

Ideal Driving Test Time – Probably the best driving test time is outside of rush hour. Driving test times of 10:14 and 13:35 being the ideal choice as this will also avoid the slight traffic increase that may occur during lunchtime. These test times with minimal traffic will likely see the examiner taking you over a broader amount of road types such as dual carriageways for example. Roads such as dual carriageways can often be disregarded from the test routes during rush hour due to the risk of traffic queues or accidents. Although these may be an increase the variety of roads taken during quieter times of the day, providing you are familiar and confident with test routes, the reduced amount of traffic should make 10:14 and 13:35 the best driving test times.